( cheers and applause ) >> jon: hey, everybody. welcome to the daily show. my name is jon stewart. thank you very much. very kind. we have a great monday night. our guest tonight, one of my favorites, the chairman of the joint chief of staffs admiral mike mullen will be joining us later. it's our third time talking to him which i believe makes me a sergeant. (laughing) we begin tonight with the obviously the big story from this weekend. obviously what everyone was talking and thinking about: president obama's jobs bill. a bill so important that its unveiling last thursday night preempted the packers'-saints game pre-game through. two teams with high expectations for the coming season. i'm sorry. what were we talking about? jobs bill. what is so great about this

that it preempted my pre-game show? >> it will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans and more jobs for long-term unemployed. repair and modernize at least 35,000 schools. it will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers and cut payroll taxes in half for every working american and every small business. >> jon: it will triple guarantee that all children get to be the thing they wanted to be when they grow up, including astronauts, ballerina, lion-tamer, and most of all batman. ( cheers and applause ) it will guarantee that they can become mr. president. what do you call this plan? that does so much for so many? >> it's called the american jobs act. >> jon: that's all you got?

the american jobs act? was employment ideas t.b.d.already taken? come on, even your crappy bills have aspirational qualities to them. the american recovery and reinvestment act. we didn't and it wasn't. but it was trying. how about a little bush era orwellian opposite day nomenclature. allowing companies to incinerate hazardous waste and call it the clear skies act. give us some spin. a little humor. a little zing. the americans take this job and love it act. ( cheers and applause ) the make it rain act. the remember me, i (beep) bin laden employment act of 2001. give us something. branding issues aside, obama was on a tear thursday night. >> what i will not do is let

this economic crisis be used as an excuse to wipe out the basic protections that americans have counted on for decades. this isn't class warfare. this is simple math. this larger notion that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is just dismantle government, refund everybody's money and let everyone write their own rules and tell everyone they're on their own, that's not who we are. >> jon: felt pretty good. didn't it? was that so hard, mr. president? maybe you could have done this whole "hit 'em where it hurts" thing before the country slid into an unstoppable (beep) spiral. you know what i love most? (laughing) you know what i love most about that speech to the congressional joint session, the awesome cut-aways to uncomfortable republicans. look at those faces. it is a veritable spectrum of poorly concealed discomfort. every shade of discomfort represented. eric cantor looks like he's

thinking, "maybe i don't move, the t-rex won't see me." rand paul trying not to look disgusted like if his mother-in-law was showing off belly dance lessons as a friend's confirmation. mitch mcconnell looks stunned and fat like a guy who just saw a dog with wheels instead of back legs roll by. and john mccain has the look of a man who had no idea the play he was watching would feature so much full frontal male nudity. puppetry of the penis. i thought the focus would be on the puppetry. so the president was on a roll. of course we've become accustomed to obama acquiescing to republican legislative intransyents. what's his strategy. >> you should pass this jobs plan right away.

pass this jobs bill and we can put people to work rebuilding america. pass this bill. pass this jobs bill. pass this bill right away. pass this jobs bill. pass this bill. pass this bill right away. >> jon: you can repeat it all you want. it's not really.... >> pass this jobs bill. >> jon: in this political climate.... >> pass this jobs bill. >> jon: touche. that was thursday night. the next day, obama heads out to sell the bill with a huge rally-- and i thought this was a nice touch-- eric cantor's home district. this morning he does the whole rose garden ceremony with a hundred of his closest props. >> stand ing with me this morning are men and women who will be helped by the american jobs act. i'm standing with teachers. i'm standing here with veterans, with cops and firefighters, small business owners, construction workers.

>> jon: wow. it's like he's with the village people. it's like he is with the village people of a double-dip recession. we have to live at the y-m-c-a. look, i've got to say... ( cheers and applause ) look at the fire. look at the fire in obama's belly. look at it. >> now is not the time for people in washington to be worrying about their jobs. it's time for them to be worrying about your jobs. now is the time to put americans back to work. now is the time to act. >> jon: i remember that guy. it's so refreshing, ladies and gentlemen. campaign obama is back. so much cooler than governing obama. i'd almost forgotten campaign obama existed after two-and-a-half years of watching this other guy. >> what you saw... and again, you know, you'll see this from the description of... of... of the deal. essentially what they had agreed to give on is... is to... to get back to... uh, a

baseline. this starts getting technical. but there were about 800 billion dollars in revenue that would be available. what we said was when you have a ratio of $4 in cuts for everyone dollar of revenue that's pretty hard to stomach. >> jon: that's why i folded on the deficit reduction deal. anyway, see the other guy would have never done that. becoming campaign obama has reinvigorated obama. raising money. rolling up his sleeves. your opponents are raising money on their own and rolling up their sleeves? wait. i think i may have an idea that may solve all of our problems. forever. no, it's not help for pandas. let us as a nation give up the pipe dream once and for all

that an inspirational leader can challenge the status quo, remake washington and govern successfully. but we can play to our strengths and embrace an america whose greatest resource is campaign-driven dribble. we're number one in aspiring political leaders telling us how great we are. let's use that and convert america to a campaign-based economy. the commercials, the bus tours, the fund raising. think of how many teachers, first responders and construction workers we could hire if we need them to stand behind politicians eight hours a day, 365 days a year. ( cheers and applause ) and pump more money in a local economy than a political convention. republicans and democrats could hold one monthly in every state injecting billions into the balloon drop straw hat escort and dead escort removal industries. can we save this country by

relying on our greatest natural resource: hand-cranked corporately financed bull (beep) machines? i say yes, we can! we'll be right back. well, thank you both for coming. oh, thank you so much. i love the vermeer collection. vermeer? dutch painter? only painted, like, 34 paintings? oh what an odd name. you've got like five of them in your hallway. those were actually in the attic when we moved in. we just both really love the color yellow. uh... [ host ] you guys are a lot of fun. yeah. [ male announcer ] the audi a8. named best large luxury sedan. new car? pretty cool. ♪

( cheers and applause ) >> jon: welcome back to the show. our guest today obviously... yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of a day when americans faced with unspeakable tragedy came

together as one people. to comfort and strengthen one another. but as i watched the many, many moving tributes on television, i couldn't help but recall that tomorrow, september 13, marks another milestone for us as a nation. >> i really believe that the paying pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the uclu, people for the american way, all of them who tried to secularize america, i point the finger in their face and say you helped this happen. >> i totally concur. >> jon: 9-13-tun, the day we began to pull apart again. please join us tomorrow meaning at comedy central as we commemorate with a special that very important date. >> coming soon, a very special television event. the daily show remembers 9-13-01

remembering the day we forgot the lessons of the day we had sworn we would always remember. >> a day we will never forget. >> it's going to be a day that will live in infamy. >> it took me about a year to start hating the 9/11 victim families. took me about a year. >> i'll never forget where i was when i heard the ann coulter called the 9/11 widows witches and harpees. then she saed it a second time and i realized, oh, my god. the 9/11 widows are underattack. >> americans. >> islam is a lie from the pit of hell. >> an atheist group is suing over a cross scheduled to be displayed at the 9/11 memorial and museum in new york city. >> we stripped faith out of these and make it totally secular that's a victory for the terrorist. >> remember when we spent a

year screaming at each other over the location of a mosque? what the (beep) was that? >> it will be seen as a victory to our enemies. >> you'll put a monument to the terror terrorists at the site of 9/11? >> watch as tragic images began wallpaper for any 9/11 story. >> i will never for get september 11, 2006. i put the tv on and saw a plane hit the building. i thought we had been attackd again. i realized it was ms-nbc reairing their original coverage it was too late. >> artists would struggle to find meaning in the tragedy or failing that would simply use it as the plot twist in a romantic movie starring that vampire kid. >> you know, i can't even watch that scene without getting choked up because i awe auditioned for the part of the female lead in that movie. she's fine. it's just... sorry. can we cut?

>> of course, the cheapening. >> giuliani planned to asked donors for contributions of $9.11 or of course 9/11. >> 24-karat gold actually recovered from vaults beneath the ashes of ground zero. >> you can see the american flag, the twin towers. >> you see the 9/11 memorial commemorative wines. >> this is real. you can drink this. if you're a (beep) (beep). >> join us on 9/11... 9-13 as we remember the day we started to forget. >> jon: we'll be right

( cheers and applause ) >> jon: with us tonight he's the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff please welcome back to the program admiral mike mullen. sir. ( cheers and applause ) nice to see you, sir. >> thank you. >> jon: how are you? >> good. >> jon: your term is is done at the end of this month. >> right. end of september. >> jon: end of september. do you have plans for relaxation? what does someone who has worked as hard as you have for as long as you have under this kind of pressure, what do you do for yourself to... do you go to a sandals resort? what does an admiral do?

>> my plan is to take a long winter's nap. >> jon: that would be the time to do it. >> actually we're going to try to come down and rest. we've been going at a pretty quick pace here for upwards of six straight years. it's time to take a break. we're going to do that. >> jon: what i didn't know about you and we got to know each other a little bit during a recent spring break trip together. you come from show business folk. your father was in the entertainment industry. >> right. he was a publicist out in hollywood. that's the business i grew up in. although as i point out, i left when i was 17 which was 1964. it's been a long time ago. >> jon: you were a 17-year-old kid living in los angeles meeting all these famous people and you rebel against your parents.... >> (laughing). >> jon:... and say, "i've had it. i'm joining the navy."

>> actually the really nice thing about my parents is that they were not judgmental. they strongly supported it. >> jon: they were not disappointed in their son not, let's say, moving into the hollywood hills and becoming a waste case with jim morrison? >> no, no, not at all. one of the strengths in the family was my dad, who was a very successful publicist, never really brought it home. we had fun with it. got to meet the people. as a kid some of those tv shows, it was pretty neat. but i think someone would look back on it and say i got about as far away from it as i possibly could. >> jon: yes. i would imagine that's the case. yet things worked out very nicely. now, when you started to rise up through this, when you entered into that political sphere, you know, basically you're working with just the navy and your commanding ships. what was the biggest surprise

when you joined the more... got involved with more of the political leadership? was that a struggle to make that transition? >> i had been in and out of washington in jobs in the navy since the mid '90s. i had always spent a lot of time on capitol hill because those individuals are my bankers. so if we want to get equipment for the troops or ships, airplanes, et cetera, i pay a lot of attention to them. but what i didn't really understand come ing into this job was that the political... that the political level i was at, every time you walk into the white house, that dominates all the issues. for a military guy, that's not a familiar environment. to adjust to that, i work hard to give my best military advice and to stay, which is critical for our military and in our country, to stay apolitical giving that advice. when the president makes decisions, we carry it out.

that was a bit of a shock certainly in the first year that i was in this job. >> jim: i.... >> jon: i was surprised in meeting the people that i've met in the military how apolitical they truly are. how it really is so much more mission based and fraternal. it's about their brothers and sisters and executing the task that they've been given. >> as you saw on the trip that we were on together, they care so much about who they're with, who they're fighting with. in many ways that's why they're there. they understand what they're doing for their country. they understand their mission. this is the best military i've ever seen. i mean i've been doing this 196. over 4...1968. over 43 years. unquestionably they are superb. >> jim: i was surprised and i know you have a lot of respect for the fighting men and women. i was surprised when we landed in kandahar that you forced them to carry you around on a litter. (laughing)

i thought that was interesting and i don't know where they got rose pet als. (laughing) it's a dry and arid place. but i'm glad you were comfortable. >> actually that usually only happens once a trip. >> jon: (laughing) ( cheers and applause ) i have to tell you something. what so impressed me, you know, we got to interact a lot with the guys. it was really wonderful. but the interaction that they had with you, there was so much more depth to it. there was, you know, when you gathered them around that first night and you were sort of going around and you were saying who is on the first tour and second tour and you started to see hands go up. some guys, 5th tour, 6th tour. you know how much difficulty it was on their families. the moments that you spent with them, they really seemed to appreciate in a very deep way. >> one of the things that i-- and i'm here tonight with debra who is in the audience

tonight and my wife of over 40 years, 41 years, we've tried to represent their needs. we've tried to be in touch enough with them so we understand what they're doing, what we're asking them to do including paying the ultimate sacrifice. and i tell them this. this really is true. there isn't a decision that i make or a recommendation that i make that doesn't take their needs as best i can understand it into account. and so the strength of our military are those young men and women and their families. we've really tried to engage them. >> jon: it surprised me though the flexibility. i had a stereotypical view of the military as being a much more rigid organization. you're surrounded by a group of people whose job it is to challenge you and to challenge your thinking. that brings an ethos into what you do, into your decision-making process that seems more flexible than what we have. >> what i've found over the years as i've gotten more senior and into these jobs of

greater responsibility is the diversity of opinion and views is absolutely critical. it allows me in the end to make the best decision. it doesn't make my staff comfortable. every day, for sure. actually it doesn't make other senior officers very comfortable because everybody doesn't do it but i try to do that to arrive at the best decision and recommendations in terms of the advice that i give the president. and the secretary of defense. >> jon: i was truly honored to be able to be a part of that trip with you to afghanistan. truly honored to be able to thank the men and women in person. i just wish you all the best in your time and hope we get to spend some time together and that i get to try on that jacket at some point. >> this is not a sergeant's jacket. ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: admiral mike mullen.

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